


Too much

by RebecaThomas



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hair Playing, NOT STARKER - Freeform, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Platonic Cuddling, Protective Tony Stark, Sensory Overload, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, anti starker, slight whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23842834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebecaThomas/pseuds/RebecaThomas
Summary: "I-I think it's a sensory overload. I don't know what caused it. Everything is just, too much!" Peter managed to grit out, hands still locked in place over his ears. They weren't really helping him filter out the sound, but it gave him something to focus on.ORPeter wakes up with a sensory overload and Tony is there to help him out.
Relationships: Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 185
Collections: The Friendly Neighborhood Exchange





	Too much

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FerretShark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FerretShark/gifts).



> Hi! I'm your gifter!!! I hope you enjoy this fic - I tried to add the least amount of whump possible for this fic!! I really hope you like it!!!

Peter's head was  _ pounding.  _ He'd only woken up a few minutes ago but he was sure that it was not going to be a Good Day. The fabric of his shirt was rubbing against him in a way that seemed to burn and the blanket felt even worse. The only reason Peter even kept the blanket was to hide himself from the light. It was  _ burning  _ his retinas. 

His alarm clock suddenly went off and the shrill ringing was even more painful than the light. His hand shot out from under the blanket and switched it off before yanking his arm back underneath. He groaned quietly after remembering that he had a math test and he couldn't skip school, even though his body was begging him to. 

Dragging his body out of bed was one of the most difficult experiences he had ever dealt with as Peter Parker. Usually, the painful stuff was left for Spiderman to deal with. Somehow, Peter managed to get ready for school, wearing the comfiest clothes he owned. 

Forcing his legs to move, Peter made his way to the kitchen to grab the lunch he had prepared yesterday evening. He snagged a few nutrition bars to eat along the way. They would, hopefully, keep his energy up until lunch. 

The commute to school was awful, being in a compact area pressed up against countless other people was nauseating. Peter stumbled out of the carriage and made his way to the gates, head still spinning from the journey. He staggered into his homeroom seat and as soon as his bag was off, he rested his head against the cool table for some relief. 

"Peter? Are you okay?" Ned leaned across his table to whisper his question in Peter's ear. 

"I'm fine. Just a headache." He replied, stringing the least amount of words together to suffice Ned's worrying. 

"It doesn't look like 'just a headache' to me. Should you even be at school?" Ned continued to press the issue, unaware of how Peter truly felt. 

Peter turned his head to whisper, eyes still closed, "I'm fine, Ned." Before continuing to rest his head against the table. 

Ned backed off after that. It was a small mercy which Peter was grateful for. He just hoped that everyone else would leave him alone. 

* * *

The misshapen, paper ball hit its target once again. The target being the back of Peter's head. It was really irritating him and he was already in a bad mood. It seemed his senses had become even more sensitive and now he couldn't block out anything. The longer the day went, the worse he felt. It was a mistake coming into school but any more missed days and Peter would've faced disciplinary action. 

His original plan was just to keep his head down, hood up and try to focus on blocking everything out but that plan was soon scrapped after getting told to take his hood off. His new plan was to tough it out until after the maths test and go home, saying he was sick. Less than an hour in and Peter was just about ready to leap out of the window and go home anyway. 

Flash had been getting extremely on his nerves today and Peter didn't have the energy to do anything about it. He was  _ really  _ regretting not sleeping in now. 

As the lesson continued to drag on, Peter's head began to hurt even more. The fluorescent lights were piercing his eyes, even when he had them closed. The thumping sound of his classmates' heartbeats surrounded him and their droning chatter was vibrating in his ears. He could smell the wood shavings from someone's pencil and the food in people's bags, all mixing together to form a repulsive odour that only he could smell. His clothes brushed against his skin and its touch was the worst sensation he could have felt. He couldn't imagine how much worse it might have been if he hadn't chosen comfy clothes that morning but he didn't really want to think about it. 

The bell rang and the sound of thousands of feet shuffling and stomping against the ground was all that Peter could hear. The ringing was still echoing through his eardrums and the noise of the people's conversations and their shoes squeaking on the floor was too much. 

He wanted to tear his ears off, the world was so loud. His hands instinctively moved towards his ears, trying to block out as much noise as he could but the vibrations still made their way to his overwhelmed eardrums. It was so loud it felt like his brain was rattling in his skull. 

His fingers were still clamped over his ears when he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. Judging from their grip, Peter assumed it was Ned. Peter opened his eyes, not even realising that he had closed them at any point, to find an empty and blindingly bright room and Ned behind him. 

"Okay, what's going on, Peter? Don't lie to me and tell me you're fine." Ned said with a firm tone. He removed his hand from Peter's shoulder and crossed his arms, looking (rightfully) displeased. 

"I-I think it's a sensory overload. I don't know what caused it. Everything is just, too much!" Peter managed to grit out, hands still locked in place over his ears. They weren't really helping him filter out the sound, but it gave him something to focus on. 

"Look, I think you should go see the nurse. Maybe she'll let you go home or she might be nice and let you sleep it off. Either way, I really think that you shouldn't be in school today." Ned's voice was softer this time, lower in volume. It wasn't much but it gave him the slightest amount of relief. 

"Can't go home. Got a maths test. May's at work, too." 

"Oh my gosh, Peter! You can't seriously believe that you'll be able to take a maths test when you can't even stand up right now and get a good score! You can retake the test another day - Mrs. Davis loves you anyway so just take the day off." The teen softly exclaimed, astonished at the stupidity of his best friend. 

"I don't wanna make a scene, Ned." 

"I think you already made a scene when the bell rang and you were still sitting here with your hands over your head. Plus, I'm already late to my next lesson so I might as well have a proper excuse." And with that, Ned hauled Peter out of his seat, careful not to irritate him too much. He grabbed his friend's bag and threw it over his shoulder before hovering around Peter in case his knees buckled. 

* * *

A painful couple of minutes later, the duo arrived outside the nurses office. Ned was already 10 minutes late so he just stayed with Peter and explained the situation to the nurse. He was already late, why not help his friend out while he's there? 

Peter's details were taken and May was called but the nurse was obviously disappointed that she didn't pick up.

Even though they'd already said she was at work.

So, Peter's second emergency contact was called and it went about as well as Ned would've imagined. 

"Hello? My name is Susan Lee and I'm calling on behalf of Peter Parker. Is this Mr. Stark?" 

"This is him, yes. Is Peter okay-" 

"He's feeling a bit ill. He has a headache and he says he feels sick. His aunt didn't pick up the phone so we had to call you. Is it alright for you to pick him up?" 

"I'll be there soon, thanks for calling me." The phone cut off with a beep and Miss Lee set the phone down softly on the desk. 

The nurse whirled around towards Ned and raised a shaky finger at his face. With wide eyes she questioned, "There is no way that was Tony Stark! How does" - she pointed her finger towards a pale and unresponsive Peter instead - " that boy know Tony Stark?!"

Honestly, Ned was slightly impressed at how calm she had been while talking to a literal celebrity. That didn't mean that he wasn't unnerved by her accusing finger. He backed away from her slightly, shifting his gaze between her concentrated gaze and Peter, who was collapsed against a table by his chair. 

"He interns for Stark Industries! I think he's Mr. Stark's personal intern!" 

"There is no way Stark Industries hires high school interns!" She pressed, hand slowly sinking into her lap. 

"Don't shoot the messenger! If you don't believe me, why don't you just wait and see? Mr. Stark said he's coming to pick Peter up anyway so you'll see him then!" Ned tried to placate her but he wasn't sure if she would listen or not. It was quite intimidating to be honest, Miss Lee was always a nice nurse so this side of her was kind of terrifying.

Ned checked on Peter, saying his 'get wells' and goodbyes one more time before turning to leave. He was late enough, and he didn't need to be there for Mr. Stark's arrival. 

* * *

Tony burst into the school with an air of calm disguising his worry. Peter was never one to just get a headache and go home, so either he was hiding an injury or something worse had happened. 

When he opened the door, the first thing he could see was a head of curly brown hair slumped against a small table adjacent to a row of chairs. His thinly veiled calmness almost shattered there and then but he managed to hold it together to turn to the nurse and sign some papers, muttering something about taking Peter home. 

Tony truly had no idea what he had said, he felt like he was in a haze, but whatever it was, it seemed to work and he gathered Peter's things before turning to said teen. 

He crouched down in front of him and ran a calloused hand through the boy's sweaty hair. 

Tapping the side of his face he whispered to the teenager. "Hey, Pete. A little birdie told me you weren't feeling too hot today. You wanna get outta here?" 

A small nod was given in response and that was all that Tony needed to help Peter up and walk them out the school gates. 

* * *

The drive back was… painful to say the least. Tony tried to drive as fast as he could back to the Tower but Peter was in pain the entire time. It killed him to see the kid in so much pain but there was nothing he could do at that point. He'd already given Peter his sunglasses which seemed to help a little and the kid had already grabbed some soundproof headphones from his bag, but even then he could still hear sounds. 

The kid had also explained briefly that he was having a sensory overload, which was something that Tony could deal with. At the Tower.

On the road, however? Not so much. 

When they finally reached the elevator, FRIDAY took them straight up to Tony's personal floor. 

As soon as the doors opened, Tony whispered, "Protocol Bedtime." Immediately the lights went off and Tony guided a much more relaxed Peter towards his room, through muscle memory alone. 

He had Peter change out of his clothes and put on something softer to wear to sleep. He wasn't really sure what to do to help Peter, but some rest seemed like a good idea. Hopefully, he'd be able to sneak away and build something to block out input. 

Forcing Peter to lie down, Tony closed the curtains in his room and sat down on the mattress next to where the young adolescent laid. 

"You feeling better, kiddo?" Tony whispered at what he hoped was a suitable volume. 

"Um, yeah. Yeah everything's great." Peter fidgeted under the covers. 

"You sure? Because if there's anything I can do just say the word, it'll be done."

"Erm, yeah, there's-there's this one thing. It's really embarrassing though and- actually it's fine don't worry about it." Peter decided, pulling the covers over himself and looking away from Tony's gaze. 

"Come on, kiddo. Spit it out. I  _ want  _ to help you. I bet it's not even that embarrassing. What is it? You need the toilet but I tucked you in too well?" Tony replied with a small smile, hoping he could get Peter to talk. 

"Wi-will you stay?" Peter asked, tentatively, glancing back at Tony. 

The billionaire's eyes softened as he glanced at the kid-  _ his kid.  _ He would do anything for this kid and his heart was bursting with so much love for him. He wouldn't admit it though. He had a reputation to keep. 

"Of course I'll stay. Scoot over would you?" Tony slipped his shoes off and sat under the covers with Peter who'd moved away from the centre of the mattress. 

Peter immediately moved closer to his mentor, until his head was against his hip. Peter rolled on his side to face Tony and he closed his eyes, taking relief in his father figure's presence. Tony didn't say anything, just placed his hands in Peter's curls and began untangling the knots that had formed. He didn't know if it would help Peter, but his blissful expression said everything. Tony stayed with him, carding his fingers through Peter's soft hair, until he was sure that the teen had fallen asleep. Trying to be as silent as possible, Tony extracted himself from the bed and slipped his shoes on before exiting the room. 

He headed down to the lab and told FRIDAY to notify him when Peter woke up. He left a message for May, explaining what had happened and that Peter was okay. Then he got to work. 

* * *

"Boss, Peter has woken up." FRIDAY helpfully informed him a few hours later.

"Thanks, FRI. I'll be up there soon." 

Tony made his way up to his floor, some sleek earphones in hand. Opening the door softly, he poked his head through the door and looked to see a half asleep Peter sitting up, his hair wild and sticking out. A soft chuckle was heard from Tony as he opened the door completely and walked inside, heading towards the confused hero. 

"What's happening?" Peter's voice was scratchy and raw. 

"You had a sensory overload. You hungry?" Tony replied, setting the earphones down on Peter's lap. 

"What're these?" Peter asked, turning them over in his hands. 

"Earphones. Hopefully, they'll block out the worst of the sounds when you're in public. I made them small so you can wear them in class and still hear what's going on without being overwhelmed." Tony replied with a shrug. 

Suddenly, he had an armful of Peter who was holding on tightly to the billionaire. Tony smiled and after a few moments he returned the hug, gripping the kid just as tight. 

When they finally separated, Tony started to tame the boy's hair, smoothing it down. "I asked you a question earlier. You hungry?" Tony said, his lips quirking up into a smile. 

"Starving. I was gonna go home at lunch after I had my math test but…" he trailed off, looking bashfully at his father figure. 

All Tony could do was laugh at his stupidity. His kid had no common sense. "What am I going to do with you, kiddo?" 

"Make me a grilled cheese sandwich?" Peter replied, voice hopeful. 

"Sure. Let's go." Tony snorted, pulling Peter up and leading him into the kitchen. The billionaire pulled him into a one-armed hug while they made their way into the kitchen. 

He couldn't hide his grin when Peter leaned closer. 


End file.
